Pope Leo calls for end to violence in Peru during visit to remote Andean town | Crime News

In Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, the pope urges the population not to respond to injustice with brutality.

Pope Leo

“We feel threatened by the uncertainty of widespread violence and by the indescribable suffering that continues to afflict so many of our brothers and sisters,” he said, speaking in his ancient cathedral in Chiclayo.

Peru’s homicide rate has nearly doubled over the past five years, from 5.8 to 10.7 per 100,000 residents. Reported extortion cases increased from 2,421 in 2019 to 26,734 in 2025, according to official figures cited by the Associated Press.

Security was a major concern for Peruvians during the last elections. Conservative President Keiko Fujimori took office in July after promising to fight crime. It has since declared a state of emergency, notably in Lima in August, then in September in prisons holding detainees linked to criminal organizations.

It has also strengthened ties with Washington, integrating Peru into the “Shield of the Americas,” a U.S.-led regional coalition formed to carry out joint military operations against drug cartels.

Later on Saturday, in the Andean town of Santa Cruz de Succhabamba, which has a population of around 6,000, around 20,000 people came to attend an open-air mass, during which Leo also addressed violence in society.

“Selfishness, injustice and evil are not defeated by brutality, but by prayer, patience and perseverance in speaking out against what is wrong, making our pleas with determination and working diligently to bring about the necessary changes,” the head of the Roman Catholic Church said.

He also drew attention to the suffering of the rural communities he served, where migration and falling birth rates are emptying villages.

“Let us think, for example, of the suffering of those who are forced to leave their countries in search of a better future for themselves and their families in large coastal cities,” he said.

Originally from Chicago in the United States and formerly known as Robert Francis Prevost, Leo arrived in Santa Cruz de Succhabamba by helicopter and was greeted by a local group singing “Pope Leo, welcome home.”

He had already made the trip to this remote region several times during his term as bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, driving winding mountain roads himself in a van.

The pope, who holds both U.S. and Peruvian citizenship, spent about two decades working in Peru as a missionary priest and bishop.